Auxiliary sole



1952 w. s. BROUGH ETAL 3,063,165

AUXILIARY SOLE Filed July 10, 1961 Wayne 8. Brough, Donald R. Stonforth,

INVENTORS.

3,363,155 Patented Nov. 13, 1952 3,063,165 AUXILIARY SOLE Wayne 5.Erough, 5228 Brockwood, Long Beach, Calif.,

and Donald R. Stauforth, 4316 Hackett Ave., Lake- Wood, Calif.

Filed July 10, 1961, Ser. No. 123,394 Claims. (Cl. 367.7)

The present invention relates to an auxiliary sole which may betemporarily worn over an ordinary street shoe to prevent slipping.

It is often desirable to have available means for in creasing onesfooting by a device which may be readily attached to an ordinary streetshoe. Such devices are useful to participants in such sports as golf,baseball, bowling, etc., and also are desirable to prevent slipping whenwearer is walking on slippery surfaces. Although there are specificshoes provided with build-in anti-slipping means, it is also desirableto provide temporary antislipping means for attaching to ordinary streetwear in order to adapt such foot wear to non-slipping uses and toprovide temporary, easily detachable anti-slipping means to streetshoes.

It has previously been proposed to provide auxiliary soles havingsurface engaging means thereon to prevent slipping. However, suchdevices have not been entirely satisfactory since the device either willnot stay on the shoe or apparatus devised to keep the auxiliary sole onthe shoe is inflexible, complex, subject to fouling, adds substantialweight to the auxiliary sole, or is otherwise unsuitable for generaluse. One serious deficiency in the prior art devices is that they tendto work loose from the shoe when the wearer is walking, particularlywhen the wearer is engaging in athletic activities as aforementioned.

Accordingly, it is an object of our present invention to provide anauxiliary sole having non-slipping means. thereon for positioning overan ordinary street shoe whereby the auxiliary sole firmly adheres to theshoe while the wearer is walking.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a detachableauxiliary sole which may be easily attached to the street shoe withoutadjustment of the auxiliary sole.

Another object of our present invention is to provide an auxiliary solewhich is attachable to shoes to prevent slipping, having limited stretchmeans to facilitate attachment of the auxiliary sole to the street shoe.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a relativelylight-weight detachable auxiliary sole for the prevention of slipping,which sole has limited stretchability.

Other objects and a more complete understanding of our present inventionwill become apparent from the following specification and the appendedclaims, taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 shows in plan view one embodiment of our present invention;

FIGURE 2 shows another embodiment of our present invention in plan view;

FIGURE 3 shows in elevational view the device of our present inventionattached to a shoe;

FIGURE 4 shows in cross section a modification of our present invention;

FIGURE 5 shows a sectional view taken on 5-5 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 6 is an enlraged sectional view on 6-6 of FIGURE 1 showing theclamp embedded in the shank retaining portion.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows theauxiliary sole 10 of our present device having a toe portion 12 adaptedfor positioning over the toe of of the shoe soles, as shown in FIGURE 3.

a street shoe and shank retaining portions 14 and 16 which have rigidclamp members 18 embedded therein (as shown in FIGURE 6) for securingthe auxiliary sole to the sole of a shoe behind the shank portion of thesole. The overall length of the auxiliary sole is such that after thetoe portion is placed on the shoe the rear portion 20 must be stretchedin order to place the clamp containing shank retainers 14 and 16 overthe narrowed sole area behind the shank of the shoe, thus tensioning thesole somewhat to provide a tight fit on the shoe. The narrowed arearearward of the flared portion of the sole of the shoe is referred to inthis specification as the shank area. Despite the tight fit achieved asabove described, it has been found that the auxiliary sole tends to workoff the shoe during walking, particularly when pivoting, because of theunlimited elasticity along the sides of the stretchable auxiliary sole,for example, in the areas 22 and 24. We have discovered, however, thatif the clasticity of the auxiliary sole is limited in these areas, theauxiliary sole will not work off of the shoe. The stretch can belimited, for example, by embedding a thin flexible member in the sole,such as the member shown in phantom in FIGURE 1. Preferably this memberis a clothlike material such as canvas, however it may be anylightweight flexible, relatively non-stretchable material which willadhere to the like material of the auxiliary sole.

It has been discovered that a maximum amount of stretch is desirable inthe area 26 between the clamps to permit the clamps to be stretched tofit over the edges This is important since shoe sole widths of differentstreet shoes may vary greatly. Thus the reenforcing member 28, shown inphantom line has a cut-out region 27 between the clamps in the area 26in order to permit stretching of the clamps into positioning over thesole of the shoe.

In FIGURE 2 a modification of our present invention is shown whereby thereenforcing member 28 extends over the toe portion as at 30 (shown inphantom) in order to provide increased rigidity on the side of theauxiliary sole to further prevent slippage of the auxiliary sole fromthe shoe. It has been found that this additional reenforcement preventsthe sides of the sole from stretching 'sufficiently to permit the soleto work loose of the shoe.

FIGURE 3 shows the sole with a toe portion 12 positioned over the shoe32 and with the clamp reenforced shank retainer portion 14 gripping thesole 34 of the shoe in the shank area 36 of the shoe.

The expression surface engaging means includes such means as the lowerface of an auxiliary sole, or a sole provided with golf spikes, baseballspikes, rubber treads, cleats, ice grips, etc. In the embodiment shownin FIGS. 2, 3, and 5, the surface engaging sole 10 is provided with golfspikes 33. The spikes 38 are attached to spike plates 39 and arepreferably backed with canvas as shown in FIG. 5 to prevent the spikeplate from cutting into the auxiliary sole.

A modification of our present invention providing a limited stretch isshown in FIGURE 4. In this modification the reenforcing web '22 issegmented and overlapped as shown by segmental members 2211 and 22b toprovide flexibility and yet give limited stretch for positioning therear portion 20 of the auxiliary sole on the shank of the shoe. In orderto limit this flexibility, however, an additional cloth-like web member23 is provided.

FIGURE 5 shows the reenforcing member 28 embedded in the sole material10 with the spikes 38 extending through the sole as previouslymentioned. Preferably the auxiliary sole is made of a rubber orsynthetic rubber material.

The clamp members 18 are embedded in the sole member, as shown in FIGURE6. Preferably these clamp members are of a spring steel. However, anystrong rigid material may be used, such as a phenolic resin. Adherent ofthe rubber auxiliary sole material to the clamp may be facilitated byperforating the clamp members.

Although we have described our present invention with a certain degreeof particularity in order to set forth the best known embodiment, ourinvention is not to be limited to the details set forth, but should beaiforded the full scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An auxiliary sole adapted to removably attach surface engaging meansto a shoe having a toe portion, a shank portion, and a shoe sole,comprising in combination: a sole portion having surface engaging meansthereon, said sole portion having a toe section for positioning over thetoe portion of said shoe and a shank retaining portion on each of therear corners of said sole portion, a rigid clamp secured to each of saidshank retaining portions to reenforce said retaining portions, saidclamp reenforced shank retaining portion engaging said shoe sole in saidshank area whereby said sole portion is tensioned on said shoe betweensaid toe section and said shank retaining portion, and a flexiblereenforcing member embedded in said sole portion and adhering thereto,said reenforcing member extending from the rear of said sole portion tothe toe section of said sole portion.

2. The auxiliary sole of claim 1 wherein said reenforcing member is acanvas material.

3. The auxiliary sole of claim 1 wherein said surface engaging means areprovided with golf spikes.

4. An auxiliary sole adapted to removably attach surface engaging meansto a shoe having a toe portion, a shank portion, and a shoe sole,comprising in combination: a sole portion having surface engaging meansthereon, said sole portion having a toe section for positioning over thetoe portion of said shoe and a shank retaining portion on each of therear corners of said sole portion, a rigid clamp secured to each of saidshank retaining portions to reenforce said portions, said clampreenforced shank retaining portion engaging shoe sole in said shank areawhereby said sole portion is tensioned in said shoe between said toesection and said shank retaining portion, and a flexible reenforcingmember embedded in said sole portion and adhering thereto, saidreenforcing member extending from the rear of said sole portion over thetoe portion of said sole portion.

5. An auxiliary sole adapted to removably attach surface engaging meansto a shoe having a toe portion, a shank portion, and a shoe sole,comprising in combination: a sole portion having surface engaging meansthereon, said sole portion having a toe section for positioning over thetoe portion of said shoe and a shank retaining portion on each of therear corners of said sole portion, a rigid clamp secured to each of saidshank retaining portions to reenforce said portions, said clampreenforced shank retaining portion engaging said shoe sole in said shankarea whereby said sole portion is tensioned on said shoe between saidtoe section and said shank retaining portion, and a flexible reenforcingmember embedded in said sole portion, said reenforcing member extendingfrom the rear of said sole portion to the toe section of said soleportion and adhering thereto, said reenforcin g member being diminishedin the area between said shank retaining portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS818,173 Hoffman Apr. 17, 1906 1,195,866 Stephan Aug. 22, 191 6 1,749,522Wedig Mar. 4, 1930 2,395,270 Hastings Feb. 19, 1946 2,664,650 SabbaghJan. 5, 1954

